Immigration and the Work Force: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas (National Bureau of Economic Research Project Report)

Since the 1970s, the striking increase in immigration to the United States has been accompanied by a marked change in the composition of the immigrant community, with a much higher percentage of foreign-born workers coming from Latin America and Asia and a dramatically lower percentage from Europe. This timely study is unique in presenting new data sets on the labor force, wage rates, and demographic conditions of both the U.S. and source-area economies through the 1980s. The contributors analyze the economic effects of immigration on the United States and selected source areas, with a focus on Puerto Rico and El Salvador. They examine the education and job performance of foreign-born workers; assimilation, fertility, and wage rates; and the impact of remittances by immigrants to family members on the overall gross domestic product of source areas. A revealing and original examination of a topic of growing importance, this book will stand as a guide for further research on immigration and on the economies of developing countries. Observes changes in the growth rate and composition of immigration since the 1970s, namely a much higher percentage of foreign-born workers arriving from Latin America and Asia and a significantly lower percentage from Europe. Examines the important effects of these trends on the economies of not only the United States but also the areas from which the new workers migrate Edited By George J. Borjas And Richard B. Freeman. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Immigration is an increasingly important component of demographic change in the United States.